Morning News Call - India, November 17

Reuters Staff

8 Min Read

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FACTORS TO WATCH
9:00 am: RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya, SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar,
Kotak Mahindra Bank MD Uday Kotak, SBI Deputy MD Anshula Kant, SBI Group Chief
Economic Advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh and other banking industry officials at
Asian Bankers Association General Meeting, in Mumbai.
10:00 am: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at International Technology
Summit, in New Delhi.
10:00 am: Prime Minister Office Minister of State Jitendra Singh, Larsen &
Toubro Head Business Development Security Solution Sachin Singh, Bosch Senior
General Manager and Head - South Asia Sudhir Tiku at International Conference &
Exhibition on Homeland Security, in New Delhi.
12:00 pm: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to meet Panasonic Corp. Global
President Kazuhiro Tsuga, in New Delhi.
4:00 pm: GST policy wing’s officers to address queries of all stakeholders,
in New Delhi.
7:00 pm: Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia, Ambassador & Permanent
Representative of India to WTO J.S. Deepak, Commerce Ministry Additional
Secretary Anup Wadhwan at Ministerial conference of the World Trade
Organisation, in New Delhi.
GMF: LIVECHAT - REUTERS INVESTMENT SUMMIT
We get an outlook for emerging fixed income markets with Steve Cook, MD in
Global Emerging Markets, PineBridge Investments, at 4:00 pm IST. To join the
conversation, click on the link: here
INDIA TOP NEWS
• Moody's raises India's bond rating, expects reforms to foster growth
Moody's Investor Services lifted the Government of India's local and foreign
currency debt ratings to Baa2 from Baa3, saying continued progress on economic
and institutional reforms will enhance India's high growth potential.
• Prescient messages about Indian companies circulate in WhatsApp groups
Three days before Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd announced quarterly results
this summer, a message circulated on a private WhatsApp group saying the Indian
drugmaker would not post good numbers. Reuters has documented at least 12 cases
of prescient messages about major Indian companies, including Dr. Reddy's, being
posted in private WhatsApp groups.
• India tells top utility to mix crop residue with coal to reduce New Delhi
smog
India directed its largest utility NTPC to blend crop residue with coal at
its power plants, in a bid to reduce stubble burning on agricultural lands which
is clouding New Delhi with smog.
• Indian state committee recommends expansion of Vedanta's alumina refiner
An Indian state committee on Thursday recommended the expansion of Vedanta's
Lanjigarh Alumina refinery from 1 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes, an
investment that would cost the company 64.83 billion Indian rupees.
• India cenbank eases rules for short-selling in govt bonds
The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday eased the rules for short-selling in
government bonds, allowing traders to deliver securities from their own
portfolio against short sales in "exceptional situations" of market stress.
• Indian corporates find saviour in bonds as loans dry up
Indian companies are finding it easier to raise funds through bonds than
bank loans, as a surge in bad credit chokes off bank lending while investors
seek higher-yielding investments for their cash.
• India considering cut in iron ore export tax -source
India is considering scrapping or reducing a 30 percent export tax on
medium-grade iron ore after building up a stubbornly high surplus of the
commodity, according to a document seen by Reuters.
GLOBAL TOP NEWS
• Tax overhaul drama moves to U.S. Senate as House approves its bill
Congressional Republicans took an important step on Thursday toward the
biggest U.S. tax-code overhaul since the 1980s as the House of Representatives
approved a broad package of tax cuts sought by senior lawmakers and President
Donald Trump.
• Comcast, Verizon approached Twenty-First Century Fox to buy some assets
-sources
Comcast and Verizon Communications have both expressed interest in acquiring
a significant part of Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox's assets, two
people familiar with the situation told Reuters on Thursday.
• Norway's $1 trillion wealth fund proposes to drop oil, gas stocks from
index
Norway's trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund is proposing to drop oil and
gas companies from its benchmark index, which would mean cutting its investments
in those companies, the deputy central bank chief supervising the fund told
Reuters, sending energy stocks lower.
LOCAL MARKETS OUTLOOK
(As reported by NewsRise)
• The SGX Nifty Futures were trading at 10,342.00, trading up 0.8 percent
from its previous close.
• Indian government bonds are likely to jump after Moody’s Investors
Services raised the nation’s sovereign credit rating. The yield on the benchmark
6.79 percent bond maturing in 2027 is likely to fall by around 20-25 basis
points today.
• The Indian rupee will likely open higher against the dollar, after Moody's
Investors Service today raised the sovereign credit rating of the country to
investment-grade Baa2 from Baa3 and revised the outlook to stable from positive.
GLOBAL MARKETS
• Wall Street's main indexes rose sharply on Thursday boosted by
earnings-related gains in Wal-Mart and Cisco, while a tax bill expected to boost
corporate earnings passed its first, if smallest, hurdle.
• Japan's Nikkei share average rose to a more than two-week high, helped by
shares in most sectors while chip-related stocks such as Sumco and Tokyo
Electron outperformed.
• The dollar slipped, weakened by a Wall Street Journal report that
investigators into possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential
election had subpoenaed President Donald Trump's election campaign for
documents.
• U.S. Treasury two-year yields hit a nine-year high on Thursday as risk
appetite recovered globally and a batch of neutral to solid economic reports put
the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates in 2018.
• Oil prices steadied after recent declines, but were were on track for
their first weekly fall in six weeks as concerns about surging U.S. supplies put
a dent in the market's recent rally.
• Gold prices stayed on track for a second straight weekly gain as they
crept up on a weaker dollar, although trading remained in a tight range amid
expectations of a U.S. interest rate hike next month.
CLOSE FII INVESTMENTS EQUITIES DEBT
PNDF spot 65.22/65.25 November 16 -$68.5 mln $115.58 mln
10-yr bond yield 7.18 pct Month-to-date $2.17 bln -$329.41 mln
Year-to-date $7.82 bln $25.62 bln
For additional data:
India govt bond market volumes
Stock market reports
Non-deliverable forwards data
Corporate debt stories [IN CORPD]
Local market closing/intraday levels [IN SNAPSHOT]
Monthly inflows [INFLOWS RTRS TABLE IN]
($1 = 65.2900 Indian rupees)
(Compiled by Nayyar Rasheed in Bengaluru)